22 July 2000

I ran into almost all the travelers I met in Calcutta up in Darjeeling my last night there. The four British medical students had some nice stories to tell about their three weeks volunteering in a private hospital in Madras, and I hope I don't get sick. There was only one defibulator for the whole hospital and they said they went to a seminar and they were teaching the MD's that had been working for years how to do a rectal exam and when asked who had done one before only the British medical students raised their hands. TB is so common they don't bother to isolate them and the sterile technique could be emphasized more.

I spent a grueling 22 hours traveling yesterday from Darjeeling and arrived in Katmandu Nepal this morning. I sat by Uiji? a Japanese chap that for some reason did not know much English and would just chuckle when I tried to talk to him. I also spent the 12 hr night train with Uiji from Calcutta to Darjeeling so I feel I know Uiji. He is very tight with his rupees and wouldn't stay at a place if it cost more than $1.50. I got a pretty nice pad here for $5. I like Katmandu, though there are much more tourists than anywhere I've been so far. This Nepalese guy (Dassi) from my hotel has been riding me around on the back of his motorcycle all over Katmandu. He is a bit speedy and I have said a few prayers as he dodges cows and passes everyone. He wears the one helmet. I've seen three of the temples, one was the temple of the monkeys and overlooked the valley and one where they were burning a couple of bodies and then they sweep it into this dirty river. Took some pictures of some funky "holy men" who were hanging out there, some of which had dread locks about 4 feet long. Tomorrow will do some more sight seeing around here then will most likely go on a 5 day trek near Pokarah, around the Annapurna range. I am a bit worried I will be too out of shape, but I hear the Porters are cheap if I need one. Also I am worried it will rain a lot, but so far it has been nice here with just a few sprinkles. hasta, Duane

 

23 July 2000

Spent the day touring around three more Hindu and Buddhist temples today with my guide Dassi. He is sometimes a bit hard to understand but comes cheap and knows his way around. He has a 150 cc Honda cycle his brother who is in the British Army bought him. I spent most of the last two days with him running around the sites. I gave him 1200 rupees for his trouble and filled up his tank (all together around $20), and he was so happy he wants to take me around some more when I get back from my trekking. He told me some Nepali tourist jokes like "a trekker sees a farmer and says Hello (means plow in Nepali), and the farmer says in Nepali, no not plow and says he's using some other tool" also a trekker says he wants to show a Nepali farmer what a plane is so he sees one overhead and says look, but look in Nepali means hide so the Nepali hides his head. After seeing the sites he took me to this tiny Tibetan restaurant and both of us ate for just over 2 dollars some wanton looking things with buffalo meat inside with some very hot chili sauce on the side.

hasta,

Duane